A Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends:

Along with the Christmas poem(Christmas is Near)  I composed earlier this month I am enclosing this special note. I know most of us dislike the usual form holiday letter, however, my heart is saddened by the loss of yet another loved one. My closest friend for over forty years, Don Gerig, past away on Dec. 12, 1997 leaving Jane, his wife of thirty-five years and Jeff his thirty-four year old son.

I am inserting this message to say that I am dedicating this Christmas poem  to Don. Also included is the composition, "Friends", which I wrote soon after the seriousness of his illness was learned. It along with one other of my recent works was read at his funeral service.

Don passed away after a six-month illness with cancer. I was able to spend several days with him, Jane and Jeff in late September. And while he died peacefully several hours before I arrived in Lodi, Ca. to say good-bye one last time, I am relieved that he now is released from the pain he experienced

I returned (home) today, Dec. 19, from Lodi and will be returning on Monday, Dec. 22, to spend the Christmas holiday with Jane, Jeff and Jane's sister, Judi.

Don and I have been friends since our adolescent years. He lived at our home when his own was not available for him. My father and mother were his. Our home was his. We tried to join the army together. I was not inducted because of a perforated eardrum, but Don went on to join the 82nd Airborne, while I attended college. He entered the auto repair trade and owned his own well-respected foreign car repair shop and in between he was my best man.

And while our lives went in different directions, Don and I remained steadfast friends and brothers in spirit. At the funeral service and in messages that Jane, Jeff and I received, those who spoke expressed their remembrances of Don as an honest, trustworthy, caring and dedicated businessman, husband and father, characteristics that he valued, held highly and maintained throughout his life.

These were personal attributes that he constantly emphasized as important and ones to be remembered by. He achieved these and much more. How very proud I was of my friend to hear others express those words of him which were so important to Don, my best friend. It was my honor to have known him.

And so while most will not have known my friend, I dedicate this Christmas poem to Don, that others may feel the warmth, hear the good cheer, smell the fragrances, and experience the hope of life that rings throughout our homes during this special time of year.

You now sleep softly in silent slumber,

your spirit to rise where now the soul

resides, to join us all in future reprise.

T. Condon Dec. 16, '97

Ted C.              Dec. 19, 1997